"I've fulfilled the agreement and released you from the Soul-Binding Orb. What happens next is entirely outside the terms of the contract!"
Leilin's voice was flat and indifferent.
It was a simple word game. Wizards were shrewd people and wouldn't be easily deceived.
But Roman was different. He had been dead for a long time, and his soul had degenerated into an evil spirit—his intelligence was naturally nothing like that of a living person.
Moreover, throughout his long series of experiments, Leilin had been deliberately using every means at his disposal to erode Roman's wits, making him increasingly muddled so he could extract the real intelligence.
Sure enough, today—despite having been jolted into a brief moment of lucidity by the crisis of life and death—Roman had still been played by Leilin, who obtained crucial Meditation Method information in the process.
"The soul of a Third-rank Apprentice—even for me now, that's not something easy to come by. How could I let you go?"
Ignoring Roman's curses, Leilin placed the silver cross at the center of the arcane circle and began the final step of crafting the Pendant of the Falling Star.
The Pendant of the Falling Star had its origins in the fragmentary pages of the Luoyan Scripture that Leilin had obtained. After the Chip had decoded them, he had cross-referenced the goblin alchemy notes found among Roman's remains to piece together the complete fabrication method.
Most of the time and energy Leilin had spent since advancing to Third-rank Apprentice had been poured into the creation of this low-grade Magical Item.
After consuming vast quantities of Magic Stones and materials, the Pendant of the Falling Star was finally nearly complete—only one final step remained: Spirit Awakening!
According to Leilin's judgment and the Chip's calculations, the Spirit Awakening step involved the soul itself and was beyond what he could handle at the time.
But Leilin had promptly obtained a large number of living humans from Viscount Jackson, the lord of Polar Night City, to serve as subjects for his spiritual research.
After years of further study, Leilin could now say with certainty that in the field of spirit research, he was absolutely the foremost among all Black Bone Forest apprentices—surpassing even many full Wizards.
With that wealth of experience, the Spirit Awakening step no longer posed any obstacle for Leilin.
It was the other ancient potion formula he had received from Guofate—the one called Maria's Tears—that still eluded him entirely.
Leilin suspected that formula was probably a potion used by full Wizards themselves, not something an apprentice could hope to tackle.
"For the Spirit Awakening step, stronger spirits aren't necessarily better. According to the Chip's simulations and my own calculations, a Third-rank Apprentice-level spirit is the most suitable…"
Leilin gazed at the evil spirit Roman, who was still struggling and cursing within the luminous halo.
"After all this time, I've deliberately kept Roman's soul strength at precisely the level that matches the materials of the Pendant of the Falling Star. Once I complete the Spirit Awakening, the result will be a flawless Magical Item!"
This was the trump card Leilin had prepared for himself in the Blood Duel.
A low-grade Magical Item did not cross the threshold into the domain of full Wizards, but for an apprentice, breaching the defenses of such a Magical Item was practically impossible.
As long as Leilin wore this pendant, his safety during the Blood Duel would be virtually assured.
"Spare me! You promised you'd let me go!"
Roman, trapped within the arcane sigils, was still screaming.
At the very end, the desperate evil spirit let loose a deep, venomous curse: "Despicable oathbreaker, I curse you—"
"Enough talk!" Leilin frowned and poured a vial of silvery liquid directly onto the surface of the Pendant of the Falling Star.
Tsss!
A ring of white vapor rose from the silver necklace. The white mist condensed in midair into a gaping mouth bristling with fangs, which lunged straight at Roman.
Crunch!
Roman was devoured in an instant. The grotesque mouth opened and closed, as if still savoring its meal.
Leilin fixed his eyes on the mouth. The moment he confirmed Roman had been completely consumed, he began to chant an incantation.
As the words of power echoed through the surroundings, the runic array Leilin had drawn on the workbench began to contract, converging toward the center until it was entirely absorbed into the Pendant of the Falling Star.
As the arcane symbols continued to coalesce, the patterns on the silver cross grew ever more intricate, gleaming with an eerie luster and radiating an air of mystery.
"Seal!"
Leilin stared intently at the cross. The instant the last of the runes was drawn into the silver pendant, he pointed a finger at the white mouth hovering in midair.
Pop!—the sound of a soap bubble bursting.
The white mouth disintegrated on the spot. Wisps of white gas drifted outward, interlaced with threads of black, all spiraling down into the silver cross.
"In my name, Leilin Farell—Pendant of the Falling Star, shine!"
With a grave expression, Leilin bit his fingertip and let a single drop of bright crimson blood fall into the Pendant of the Falling Star.
The red gemstone at the heart of the cross flickered and instantly absorbed the drop.
Boom! A powerful suction force erupted from the Pendant of the Falling Star. A vortex formed on the surface of the cross, pulling in every last trace of black and white gas in the room.